I May Fall - Feat. Extra Torture
I don't want to do it.
"Do you have a better plan?"
People will die! I'm NOT going to do that, it's a non-starter! I JUST need to get away, I don't need to kill anyone!
"It's reaching a point of being either them or us!"
Penn's argument was cut off as the door to his cell opened. Once again, Salem entered, literally bringing light into his world with her.
"I believe I've given you ample time to 'think about it.' Have you made your decision?"
They didn't have an escape plan put together. He wasn't ready. He needed to buy them time. Thankfully, they'd thought this might happen. The best thing about having a command of thoroughly useless information was that he had lots of useful-sounding things he could tell her that were functionally worthless.
He bowed his head, looking defeated. It was an easy look to pull off when half-starved, dirty, and frightened.
"What is it that you want to know about Sunset?"
Salem hummed with satisfaction before reaching into her dress, producing the DVD set she had shown him on his first day in the castle.
"Sunset Shimmer was an amusing puzzle, but she poses no threat overall. I want to know more about this." She leaned down, holding it close enough for him to make out details. It's not like I need to see it that closely, I own the same dang box set... "You mentioned the existence of other worlds. I assume that this came from a reality above ours, one that can influence our world as easily as one would write a book."
Penn nodded, keeping his head low to hide his shock as how easily she had determined the truth from his single slip of the tongue.
"And you are familiar with it. Are you from the same higher plane?"
Penn shrugged at that. "I- I don't know if I'd call it 'higher,' like it's some kind of divine place... It's just Earth, just like any other."
"Except that it isn't." Salem's voice began to grow irritated. With it came a ripple of cold through the air that gnawed at his skin and set his body shivering. "You shouldn't mislead me, child. It will not end well for you. Tell me only the truth."
Penn couldn't bring himself to speak, only nodding as his breath formed clouds in front of his face.
"Now, is Sunset Shimmer from the same place, as well?"
He shook his head. "Another w-world. S-she doesn't k-know anything about this p-place..." His shivering forced a stutter into his speech. "She's j-just stuck w-with me..."
"In that case, I assume her actions to foil our plans in Vale were on your orders?"
He nodded again.
"And how did the two of you find yourselves here?"
"Two? She still doesn't know about Missy! She's safe!"
"It was an accident." Penn shook his head. "W-we were just driving and w-we went through a p-portal. We didn't even s-see it!"
Salem straightened her posture, changing to look down at him while standing at her full height. "And how much of this have you told Ozpin?"
"None. D-Don't like the guy. Don't t-trust him." He didn't hesitate with his answer.
That got a few seconds of silence. "A wise choice. In that case, I only have one more question for you at the moment."
He felt the sting of a sharp fingernail being pressed under his chin, forcing him to look up and into her eyes. Her red irises glowed against her black sclera like coals, but there was no warmth in them.
"Where is this portal you entered our world through?"
"WHAT?"
"W-what?"
"I believe I made myself clear. What you have, what I want, is the way to leave this world behind. With the power of that world, I can hunt down the calloused gods who created this wretched place, and reshape it to my vision of a perfect world. One without strife, one unburdened by the failed designs of divinity, one where mankind's flaws can no longer continue killing it slowly from the inside out." She dug the tip of her nail a little deeper into his skin. "So, you will tell me where this portal is. I will not ask again."
He locked up. His brain was staring at an impossible problem and quickly shutting down because of it. Behind his back, he fingered at his cards in his back pocket, trying to find a solution. If he lied, she would know. If he tried to stall her, she would see straight through it. If he told her the truth, Salem and an army of Grimm would march on a world completely unprepared to deal with these monsters. He needed something that could save him, protect him. He needed something between him and her. He needed...
He needed a monster.
"If- If I tell you, it w-won't do you any g-good..."
"And why is that?"
"There- there are things out there... From between the dimensions. They watch the portals. We were through so fast they either didn't see us or didn't care, but..." he forced himself to shake his head and back away from her, cowering in the corner of the room. He pulled his knees up to his chest, letting the shivers completely overtake him. "E-even just glimpsing them nearly drove us both insane... They don't adhere to our understanding, they're beyond comprehension! The Hounds of Tindalos, the Angels of Evangelion, Nyarlathotep the Crawling Chaos, Makuta Teridax, the Ultimate Nightmare!" He grabbed at his head, raking his nails across his scalp until he could feel hot rivulets of blood running down his neck. When he looked up again, he did so with a sudden snapping motion, eyes wide and wild with fear. He pointed an accusatory finger at Salem.
"I GOT LUCKY ONCE, BUT I'D RATHER DIE THAN GO THROUGH THAT PORTAL AGAIN! TRY IT AND I PROMISE YOU'LL GO MAD FROM THE REVELATION, IMMORTAL OR NOT!"
There was no sound other than his whimpering as he buried his face back in his knees, rocking back and forth in the corner of the stone prison. Without warning, he felt his entire abdomen clench and shooting pain erupt from the center of his body. A flood of bile erupted from his mouth, only to be shoved back down as a Grimm hand clapped itself over his mouth. The bile spurted out through his nose, the only way out. He tried to cough and gasp for air, but he was choking on his own vomit. More hands jumped out of the wall, pressing claws to his throat and sinking into his arms and legs. He wanted to scream from the pain, but it felt like this throat had been sealed shut. He could feel himself growing weaker, as if his very life were being drained from him.
His lungs felt like they were about to burst as his diaphragm convulsed and he tried to cough out the blockage. His stomach was screaming with pain, and each of his limbs left like they were on fire as dagger-like claws sunk into him. His lungs screamed with agony, even as his own attempts to scream were bottled up until he was about to explode.
Salem twitched her finger, sending another spasm through his abdomen as her power gripped his stomach a little tighter. "You aren't as clever as you think you are..." A flick of her wrist sent the pain up and into his lungs, making it feel as if his chest had collapsed in on itself. His entire ribcage groaned in the strain, threatening to snap into pieces. "I did not ask for a tall tale meant to scare children."
The world was beginning to spin, and the burning pain was being intensified by a growing tingling all through his body. The world was growing dark, but the pain wasn't fading. I... Am I dying?
"You know, torture has been proven again and again to be relatively ineffective." Salem mused. "Positive reinforcement is a much better system. However, there is something more...basal about fear. Instinctual. If you wish to train an animal, you must make them understand that you are in control. In control of their food..." she gestured to the tiny door that his meals came through once a day, "their safety..." she pointed to the dark corner of the room where the monster torturing him was shying away from the light, "and their very lives. Make no mistake, whether in this world or the next, you exist because I deign to let you. The moment you stand between me and my goals, I will not hesitate to end that existence."
She turned and walked out the door, but the torture didn't stop without her presence. When he finally slipped into unconsciousness, it was with one last thought.
Okay... your plan.
"Good."
Emerald had been listening in when Salem emerged, looking frustrated. Clearly, things hadn't gone well.
"He still has an ounce of fight left in him... Do as we discussed, Emerald."
"Y-yes, ma'am..."
She almost felt bad for their prisoner. This next illusion was going to truly be cruel. She honestly wished he would just give up so that she could go back to being by Cinder's side. Hopefully, this would be the last straw to break him. If he would just give up, both of their suffering could end.
"What about Heart of Clear Water?"
We both know Missy's the only one who can actually use the cards outside a duel like that.
"You won't know until you try, you need a little more faith in your cards!" Reason countered the negative thought with ease. "If you aren't certain, let's focus on something a little easier, like maybe standing up?"
Ah... right. Penn made an attempt to flex his limbs, only to find them stiff and unresponsive. Whatever Salem had done to him when her Grimm arms had stabbed him, his body still hadn't had time to even begin repairing itself from it. He made another attempt, but every strand of his muscles felt like they'd been pulled tight until they were ready to snap, unable to stretch or bend. Well, that's not going to work yet... And we're going to need one hundred percent efficiency for our plan.
He felt his entire body clench with fear as the door opened again. This time, however, there was no sign of Salem. He didn't see who had come, but no words were spoken, simply the sound of another body collapsing to the floor beside him. He turned his head, trying to catch a glimpse of his new cellmate.
"No..." the word was a painful whisper in his acid-burned throat. The door slammed shut, locking him inside once again.
Sunset's cloudy dead eyes stared back at him, ignoring his plea. He tried to force himself into a sitting position, but his muscles didn't have the strength. He couldn't look away, even as he stared into the horrifying details of her face. It had been ripped open on one side, slicing her from her jaw across her cheek and up into her hairline. As he continued looking upwards, he could see dried blood mingled in with her fiery red hair. It had leaked down from a caved-in portion of her skull, where he could see a still-shiny clot of blood pooled around exposed gray matter and bone splinters.
"This... this isn't possible..." he whispered. He didn't even realize he'd said it, it sounded like the voice of a stranger. He didn't even feel the scratching at his throat, this time, everything was fading into a haze of pain and shock. He forced his arm to bend and reach out to her, the protests from his muscles were just more noise now. Just as his fingers were about to brush against her skin, her mouth cracked open, forcing him to recoil in fear. A large centipede pushed its way out from between her lips, turning to regard him curiously before crawling up and into the hole in her skull.
He wanted to vomit, to scramble as far away from it as he could and shut his eyes for the rest of eternity, but his body still wouldn't respond properly. He tried to screw his eyes shut, but the image was still there, as clearly as when they were open. He could only watch as Sunset's body rotted right in front of him, maggots gnawing their way into and back out of her flesh like fish diving into the water. He was overwhelmed by a wave of stench coming from her corpse now, the smell of evacuated bowels and rotting meat, and he couldn't so much as turn his head to try and stem the flow of infected air into his lungs.
"S-Sunset... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." was all he could whisper, repeating himself over and over as that single thought dominated his brain on loop. He wanted to throw up, but the thorough twisting and squeezing Salem had given his stomach earlier had left him unable to do more than involuntarily gag over and over, dry heaving straight into her face as one last unwilling desecration of her corpse.
He couldn't bear to watch it as her jaw opened wider, expecting another insect to come crawling its way out. Instead, a wave of musty warm air washed over his face, and a croaking noise came out of her mouth.
"You..."
This wasn't possible, and Penn knew it, but he couldn't look away. He couldn't deny it as Sunset's dead body locked her empty once-blue eyes on him.
"Didn't..."
Her head began to rise off of the floor, followed by the rest of her body. Her arms pushed her up off of the stone floor, revealing a gaping hole in her chest where her heart should have been, oozing blood and pus.
"Save..."
She dragged herself across the floor by her arms, lurching over until she had practically climbed on top of him. He wanted to move, he tried and tried to kick his legs, flail his arms, but his body refused to give him any more than a few feeble kicks.
"Me..."
She leaned down, her jaw distending until it crunched and cracked itself out of place.
"Whhhhhhhhhhhy?" she hissed. Even as the question slithered its way out of her throat, spiders began to pour from her mouth, crawling out and all over her face. Penn tried to reach up, to force her off of him as the spiders began to crawl over one another, beginning to lose their grip on her and fall down on top of him. With a final rush of adrenaline, he flung his arm upwards, trying to bat her away before any of the spiders could land on him.
His arm passed straight through her, as if she weren't there at all.
It's... an illusion?
"That dirty trick!"
He looked around, a series of realizations coming to his mind. It all made sense. Why he could see her so perfectly in the dark, why he couldn't close his eyes and make it go away, why it felt like he was living one of his worst nightmares... it was all being put directly into his brain. And that meant...
"EMERALD! Nice try, but I'm not that gullible!"
Zombie Sunset continued hovering over him, breathing into his face and staring straight into his soul with those lifeless gray eyes.
"Saaaaave... meeeeee..."
"Y-you can stop now, Emerald! You're not fooling anyone!"
A long, rotting tongue slipped its way out of Sunset's mouth, slithering down and dragging itself across his cheek, providing an easy bridge for the spiders and other bugs to climb down and begin to crawl all over him.
"EMERALD, I KNOW IT ISN'T REAL!" He couldn't hide the growing panic in his voice as the illusion leaned down, looking as if it was ready to swallow him whole with its distended jaw and army of decomposers. He could see dust and spores on her breath, traveling down and floating into his lungs as his breath came faster and faster. Even if he couldn't feel it, he could see the spiders biting into his skin and tearing it open. He could only watch as the illusions crawled under his skin, setting themselves to work at the task of making him just like his friend.
He couldn't help but think back to an old phrase he had read, one that had stuck with him since his childhood:
You know the biggest problem with visions? You can't shut your eyes.
"EMERALD, YOU CAN STOP NOW! YOU CAN'T SCARE ME WHEN I KNOW IT'S ALL FAKE! EMERALD? EMERAAAAALD!"
On Ruby's suggestion, the team had split up to search the arena. She and Weiss, being the fastest of the group, had gone to search the hallways around the circumference of the colosseum. Meanwhile, Sunset and Blake were assigned to the main arena. Yang had declared that she had an idea of her own and run off before Ruby could give her an assignment, leaving them split into three teams. While their area was technically the easiest to search, Sunset couldn't help bemoaning the fact that they had been left with the largest search in terms of sheer area.
"I don't get it... nothing seems wrong here." Blake muttered.
"Unless you count the fact that there's a crap-ton of gum on the bottom of these chairs..." Sunset muttered, sticking out her tongue in disgust.
"Okay, well, maybe we just need to think like Missy... Sunset? Any ideas?"
Sunset pondered the question for a few seconds. "Missy doesn't like being on the ground, and she doesn't do anything by half-measures. If she was trying to hide, she'd do the opposite of what she thinks they expect so... she'd probably go down!"
"Okay, so... how far down do we go? The front row of seats? Under the arena? Under the colosseum, itself?"
"Let's try the basement and work our way up from there. If we don't find her, we'll have to assume she got away on her own." The two of them nodded to each other, making their way down the long stairway through the bleachers and into the arena, itself. They were almost halfway across the center stage when the spotlights switched themselves on, shining directly on the two of them.
"Well, well, well! If it isn't the little troublemakers from the docks! Where's little Red?"
Both of them jumped with surprise, instantly standing back to back as Torchwick's voice echoed over the loudspeakers. Sunset's lightsaber was in her hands and Blake had reached over her shoulder for Gambol Shroud.
"So much for the element of surprise..." Blake whispered.
"Or keeping a low profile." Sunset added.
"Well, I'm sure she's around here SOMEWHERE. She's got a remarkable talent for always being underfoot. For now, why don't I just deal with the two of you?"
Blake turned towards the commentator's box, pointing an accusatory finger up at Roman. "What is the White Fang even DOING here? What could you possibly accomplish in an EMPTY arena?"
"Well, we're just dropping off a little package, sweetheart, nothing too special! As for my employers, well, I don't think it takes a genius to figure out that there's only one thing to do with an arena this big: SEND A MESSAGE!"
Sunset and Blake both looked at one another, eyes wide as realization set in.
"It's not an operation..."
"It's a BOMB!"
"Ding ding ding! Someone give the ladies a trophy!"
Sunset felt the bottom drop out of her stomach, that same unrest she was starting to recognize as a warning of danger. At the same time, Blake's hair bow twitched, and she drew her weapon. She followed the feeling, slashing blindly to her left at the empty air alongside Blake. A glass-like wall beside them shattered, revealing an unfamiliar stranger who just barely dodged their attacks. Sunset did get a moment of satisfaction as she watched the girl's umbrella fall into pieces along a glowing molten line her saber had left.
"That's the one who caught us off-guard at the docks..." Blake growled. The stranger didn't say a word, staring at her half-umbrella in shock, then giving both of them a furious glare.
"If she took out all five of us by herself, we can't fight her here."
"I know. We have to find Missy and the others and get a warning out as fast as we can!"
Sunset re-positioned herself into a ready stance with her lightsaber, trying to look for any way they could escape.
"Sunset, do you trust me?" Blake asked.
"As much as you trust me, if not more."
"Then on my mark, throw me your saber."
Sunset blinked at the strange request, but nodded in agreement.
"Make this quick, would you, Neo? We've got places to be, after all. Like, 'anywhere but here,' for instance!"
"Neo" smiled a wicked smile, expertly swiveling the remains of her umbrella in her hand like a sword. After inspecting the new tip for sharpness from the angle it had been cut to, she lunged forward. Sunset and Blake did the same, Sunset swinging for her head as Blake ducked down to strike for her ankles. Both of them met only air as she hopped and spun through the air, weaving through their attacks. Sunset felt a firm kick to her back drive her forward, forcing her to stumble. Behind her, she could hear a furious series of blows exchanged between her and Blake, metal clashing against metal in rapid succession. By the time Sunset was on her feet, Blake had been forced back by the flurry of attacks, landing with a thud on her back. She growled as she forced herself back onto her feet. Meanwhile, Neo was simply smiling and patiently waiting for them.
"Neo, quit playing with your food, we've got a schedule to keep!"
"Sunset, swap!"
Sunset tossed the saber to the side, receiving the cleaver-like metal sheath of Blake's sword in return.
"Buy me some time!"
Sunset nodded, rushing forward towards Neo and brandishing her new weapon. Neo simply raised an eyebrow. Sunset heard a scraping sound against the metal floor to her right. Without taking her eyes off of her opponent, she brought the cleaver down in that direction, shattering another illusion and landing a blow on the real Neo's shoulder. It glanced off of her aura, letting her get in close and ram the point of her broken umbrella into Sunset's gut, taking a significant chunk out of her own protective energy. She kept up the pressure, landing numerous beatings on Sunset's body in less than a second in a flurry of attacks before looping the hooked handle around her ankle and yanking it out from under her.
"SUNSET!"
Blake's cry was the only warning Sunset got before there was an ear-splitting screech of metal being torn. Then, several things happened in less than two seconds.
Rather than the hard impact with the floor she had been expecting, the rest of the world seemed to fall away, leaving her weightless. Neo's eyes widened as she was suddenly airborne and the three of them plunged into darkness, but Sunset took advantage of the situation, landing a kick under her opponent's chin with enough force to right herself. Neo sailed away through the air, colliding with an unseen wall and dropping to the ground like a sack of bricks. A second later, Sunset impacted hard with the ground, her knees objecting enthusiastically to the sudden impact.
And then time seemed to resume its normal pace, and she understood what had happened. Looking up, she could see that a large circular hole had been cut in the arena floor, still glowing from where the metal had been melted and torn. They had dropped through, which explained her second of weightlessness. It was at least a thirty-foot drop, one she never would have survived intact without her aura. Blake strolled up beside her, swinging her gun on its elatsic ribbon and revealing how she had done it: she had jammed the handle of the lightsaber into the loop of metal housing her gun's trigger. Pulling her weapon up by the ribbon, she reached down and wrenched the saber out of the hole, instantly returning it to Sunset, who nodded in appreciation.
"What should we do with her?"
"Neo? Neo, what's going on down there?"
They both looked at the ribbon, then at their unconscious enemy.
They both smiled.
Pyrhha sighed, feeling anxiety building in her chest as she stared at Team RWBYS's empty dorm room. They were nowhere to be found on campus, she and Nora had looked everywhere. She'd tried calling each of them, but all of their scrolls were unresponsive.
"Something's wrong..." she muttered.
"Of COURSE something's wrong! The very IDEA that our friends would skip out on Pancake Night when Ren is cooking is just absurd!" Nora pouted. "I even tried to get him to make little metal pancakes for Isis, but apparently that would ruin the cookware!"
"Isis... of course!" Pyrrha reached down into her pocket, opening her scroll and scrolling through her contacts. She felt her spirits fall slightly as she realized that she never actually received a contact number for their digital friend. She's always just... there.
She looked down at her scroll, unsure if what she was thinking would work. Still it was worth a shot.
"Isis? Are you there?"
"Affirmative, Pyrrha Nikos."
Pyrrha felt a wave of relief with only a slight undercurrent of worry at the fact that Isis appeared to always be listening through her scroll.
"Can you tell us where Team RWBYS is?"
"They have departed on a rescue mission and confrontation with the White Fang at Amity Colosseum."
"They what?"
"They WHAT?"
"They received a call from Missy claiming that the situation was coming to a head there. They went to extract her and glean whatever data they could."
"They're going up against the White Fang ALONE? AGAIN?"
"I believe that Professor Ozpin brought his own group on a separate mission, as well, but Team RWBYS is operating independently of them."
Pyrrha narrowed her eyes, turning to Nora. "Nora, I'm afraid Pancake Night is going to have to wait..."
Nora grinned, reaching behind her back to take hold of her grenade launcher. "I'll go get Ren."
"And I'll get Jaune. We'll meet on the airfield."
Pyrrha knew where Jaune was: pretending to study while he read comic books in the library. She hurried down the hall, arriving at the elevator and giving the button a firm push.
The doors opened, but it was instantly apparent that there was no room inside.
Crammed inside was a giant-sized version of one of Isis's drones, taking up almost all of the available space as it folded in on itself. Instead of metal, i was covered in yellow-and-black ceramic panels, almost looking as if it had been wrapped in police tape from its colorations. The other occupant was a coffin-sized container sitting beside it, its contents a complete mystery. The robotic dragon was hunched and folded in ways that made no biological sense, just barely fitting inside and making the floor beneath it sag in a way that made Pyrrha almost certain that it was breaking the weight limit. The huge drone tilted its head in curiosity.
"Going down?"
"I... think I'll take the stairs..."
"Affirmative."
The tail picked itself up off of the floor, extending out to press a button on the inside of the elevator. The doors shut and it was soon out of sight, on its way downwards to who-knew-where. Pyrrha looked down at her scroll. "Do I want to ask, Isis?"
"I doubt any answer I am permitted to give would be satisfactory."
